Gregory Goes There

Our customer service department recently received an inspiring email from Steve DeLellis requesting to retire his 30 year-old Gregory Cassin backpack at the Gregory headquarters in Sacramento.

After 30 years of companionship, Steve knew his pack had “one more ‘big-one’ left in her.” So, he packed his Cassin for a final trek up the Cerro Aconcagua in Argentina, the highest mountain in the Americas. While he reported his “pack endured the hardships of the expedition without wavering,” he felt it was now time “to give her a fitting retirement among friends” at Gregory.

We are so honored to accept Steve’s loyal companion and will be happy to find her a home on our planned ‘history wall’ featuring other Gregory packs of the past.

Read Steve and his Cassin’s story below.

31 January 2010

I was the smartest kid in the world…weren’t we all at 16 years old? I knew what I wanted, and did my research. I asked my parents for the cream-of-the-crop, custom built Gregory Mountain Products “Cassin” backpack for my 16th birthday. Though only 16, I had plenty of backpacking mileage under my belt…and lots of vertical “mileage” on the rocks. I learned to enjoy the outdoors at a very early age, and while growing up in Kentucky, took full advantage of everything the Red River Gorge and the Daniel Boone National Forest had to offer.

Though I had to agree to sell my not-so-old Kelty backpack and had to agree that the pack would be a combination birthday and Christmas gift, my parents reluctantly consented. I did my part…filling out the order forms that Gregory required, with all of the necessary information…height, weight, girth, age, etc….and put them in the mail. Needless to say, I was ecstatic when my pack arrived. It wasn’t long before it was on my back, heading down the trail, or being hauled up, or down, some rock face.

Over the years, she was there with me. She took care of me through a month in Yellowstone, during one of the worst forest-fires in the parks history (1989?), in the Rockies for the 3 summers I lived in Vail Colorado, hiking, backpacking or rock and Ice climbing. My Cassin never argued about what I asked her to carry, or where I asked her to carry it. She’s climbed too many of the continental United State’s 14,000-footers to count. She’s rafted whitewater, slept along the cliff-base in Estes Park, carried my ropes and ice-screws through Jackson Hole while taking a break from the Tetons…and who can even remember all the trips to the Red River Gorge.

While sleeping alongside Enloe Creek in the Smokies, she hung from the trees to keep my food safe from the bears. My Cassin never complained about the task at hand or the burden she bore. Occasionally, I would strap on an accessory pocket or water bottle, I could always find a place to hang crampons, ice axes or trekking poles and sometimes even more. On several trips overseas, my Cassin was converted from civilian play, to the more serious work of my military career. She’s been in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans and the Philippines. She’s been to Honduras and Panama carrying the tools of my military trade instead of the toys I’d much rather be playing with.

On January 17, 2010 my 30-year old Cassin carried nearly 30kg of gear to the high-camp on Cerro Aconcagua in Argentina. In the early morning snow and sub-zero temperatures on the 18th, my Cassin “held down the fort” as my expedition mates and I headed out for the summit. Nine hours later six of us stood at 22,841 ft marveling at the extremes that the mountain had thrown at us. We were 20-strong only a few weeks before. The distance, altitude and climate had whittled us down to 13 climbers at high camp; of those 13 only 6 of us were strong enough to make the summit bid.

I slept well the night of January 18, 2010. Shortly after breakfast on the 19th I took several photos of my Cassin, loaded and ready to descend…looking like a sentinel on that mountain, happy to be fully loaded once again and ready to go wherever I asked her to go. She has been my faithful partner around the globe. She has served me better than I would have ever imagined. She had made you proud. Thanks so much for the opportunity to have shared so much with her!

Steve DeLellis
30-year Gregory Mountain Products Ambassador